In the jewellery trade it is necessary to join the ends of the chain, bracelet or similar device together or add other attachments thereto. Typical of the joiners used are parrot clasps, bolt rings and jump rings.
Jump rings are split rings where the free ends are pressed together to close the gap between the free ends. Jump rings can be stretched over time allowing the gap to open and the chain to slip out.
Parrot clasps have a pivotal latch at one end and a jump ring threading bore on the main body at the other end. The parrot clasp has the disadvantages of greater cost, complicated assembly, weakness of the jump ring and accidental opening of the pivotal latch.
Bolt rings have a hollow ring with a slideable gate within the ring. They usually include a ring soldered to the hollow ring. The soldered ring is a point of weakness as is the slideable gate.
All of these devices suffer from a strength problem in that a sharp tug on the chain may cause the device to fail and allow the chain to be disconnected. Such a disconnection may result in loss of the chain.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a joiner, which is stronger than the above mentioned devices.
A further object of the invention is to provide a joiner that is simple to attach and requires no soldering or special tools.